Hartford, Manchester Police Make Arrest In 2004 Hartford Murder

HARTFORD — After nearly 10 years of questions, family and friends of Edgardo "Juju" Vasquez said they are getting answers about the drive-by shooting that claimed his life in July 2004.

The suspected driver, Ismael Gomez, was arrested Wednesday and arraigned on Thursday. The arrest of the suspected shooter, Carlos Rosario – who confessed and is in prison on other charges -- is imminent, police said.

Gomez, 28, of Eldridge Street in Manchester, is charged with accessory to murder. His bail was set at $2 million and he is scheduled to return to court April 8.

"Before our mom died, before she passed, this was all she wanted was for us to have answers," said Vasquez' sister, Stephanie Cosme, 24. "We just wondered who and why."

Rosario, 31, of Kent Street in Hartford, confessed to Hartford detectives that he shot and fatally wounded Vasquez on June 30, 2004, in front of 56 Whitmore St.

Vasquez, 21, died early July 1, 2004, at Hartford Hospital, police said.

Rosario contacted detectives in August to confess to the murder, saying he needed to get the shooting "off his chest" and to "release the demons he lives with," according to an arrest warrant.

That confession provided detectives with new leads that enabled them to identify a second suspect, Gomez.

Gomez was picked up by Manchester police Wednesday night. He was driving a taxi cab on Main Street in Manchester when officers took him into custody on a warrant.

The shooting occurred about 11:30 p.m. June 30, 2004. Vasquez had borrowed a car and he and two friends were riding around when they stopped on Whitmore Street. Another vehicle pulled alongside, someone yelled Vasquez's name, and then someone in the back seat opened fire, according to retired Hartford police Sgt. Christopher J. Lyons, who hosts a cold case feature on FOX CT.

A warrant for Gomez' arrest says that Rosario dealt crack cocaine at the time of the killing and saw one of his regular customers doing business with someone in a green Jeep. Rosario had Gomez follow the Jeep so they could tell the driver that he couldn't sell drugs in Rosario's territory, the warrant says.

Gomez drove and Rosario sat in the back. The passenger in the front seat is a cooperating witness, the warrant says.

Rosario told police they followed the Jeep along several streets in Hartford. Gomez handed him a gun while they discussed what they would do, the warrant says. When they pulled up to the Jeep on Whitmore Street, the driver moved his seat up quickly and Rosario thought he might have gun.

Rosario stuck his gun out the window and fired at the driver. He saw people moving around in the back and fired a few rounds at them before Gomez drove off, the warrant says.

Vasquez suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen. His friends pulled him out of the driver's seat and drove him to Hartford Hospital, where he later died.

Vasquez, 21, lived on Wadsworth Street in Hartford with his girlfriend. He was the eighth homicide victim of 2004.

Cosme said she and her mother moved to Florida a year before the shooting. Her mother was hit by a car and killed in 2010. Her father died when Vasquez was 14.

She said she is happy that the case has been solved, but is reliving what she felt when she learned her brother was killed.

"I'm happy this moment is here, but it's like grieving all over again," she said.

Vasquez girlfriend, Yadira Rivera, said she learned she was pregnant with Vasquez's child the day of his wake.

"She is the spitting image of her father," Rivera said of her 9-year-old daughter. "She acts just like him. She looks just like him."

Her daughter knows her father was killed and asked who killed him. It was her daughter's question that prompted Rivera to participate in the cold case feature with Lyons.

"This is just amazing. I'm grateful, but I'm sad. It was sad to see the person who killed my baby's father for the first time," Rivera said.